"What you said is reasonable. It has been like this since ancient times. It is easy to conquer the world, but it is difficult to govern the world."
After listening to Liu Jin's words, Emperor Hongzhi also nodded solemnly.
Only after becoming this emperor did he deeply understand how difficult it is to govern a huge empire. It is definitely not easy to secure the country and foundation left by his ancestors.
Looking at Liu Jin again, I am even more satisfied. He is a capable minister and the pillar of the country.
While everyone was clamoring to conquer the Western Regions and just focusing on the cotton and wool of the Western Regions, Liu Jin was already thinking about how to rule and manage the Western Regions stably in the long term.
I am thinking about the continued expansion after the Ming Dynasty, instead of just looking at the cotton and wool of the Western Regions.
"Then do you think if we capture the Western Region, how will we manage and rule here?"
After thinking for a while, Emperor Hongzhi asked again.
"If our Ming Dynasty conquers the Western Regions, we only need to grasp a few core points for the management and rule of the Western Regions."
"The first is to always firmly control the military power, completely suppress and eliminate the military power in various places in the Western Region, and not allow them to have any military power."
"Second, de-Turkize and Sudanize, vigorously promote our Chinese civilization, and all ruled areas must, like the Nanyang provinces, fully implement our Chinese education, emphasize loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, and combat theocracy."
"The third is to change the population structure, expel the Turks and Sudanese people, move a large number of our Han people to various places in the Western Regions, encourage our Han people to marry foreigners here as wives and concubines, and reward fertility."
"As long as we firmly grasp these three points, the land of the Western Regions, in just a few generations, will surely become the same place as the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and will forever become our land of China."
Liu Jin thought for a while and came up with three points.
The collapse of Mongolian rule in the Western Regions, or to be precise, the collapse of rule in various regions, was ultimately due to several reasons.
The first and most important aspect is the lack of cultural foundation and easy assimilation.
They are nomadic people. In the past, they did not even have their own writing, laws, culture, and even customs were not defined.
Although they have extremely powerful force because they are nomadic people, they lack their own cultural foundation, so that they are quickly assimilated by the conquered areas.
In the Central Plains, Kublai Khan used Confucianism to rule, while in Persia, the Mongol Khan ruled in a Sudanese way. Such a ruling method was extremely beneficial in the short term and allowed them to integrate faster.
Among them, they became part of the conquest, but they were also quickly assimilated at an extremely terrifying speed, and eventually lost themselves.
The second is that they are not good at political management. They only advocate force and have a strong innate predatory nature. They can plunder before being conquered, but what about after the conquest? Or do they rely on plunder to maintain?
Forget about production, they even absurdly wanted to turn the Central Plains into pasture. In terms of monetary policy, they abandoned copper coins and replaced them with silk banknotes, which led to skyrocketing prices and people's livelihood.
The third one is the issue of internal heir inheritance.
The grassland people have never had a perfect heir inheritance system. When a son is born, he will be assigned to one place, constantly spreading out the strength that he has finally gathered. Several sons of Genghis Khan will divide the family property, and his sons will divide it.
To the grandson, the more divided it is, the smaller it will be, and the more divided it will be, the weaker it will be.
There were constant battles over the succession to the throne of Khan, with constant internal disputes and serious internal strife.
Due to these three main reasons, the once extremely powerful Mongol Empire was established very quickly, but it also collapsed in a very short period of time.
If the Ming Dynasty wants to take over the vast area left by the Mongol Empire, it must learn from the Mongols' lessons so that it can be long-term and stable.
Compared with the Mongol Empire, the Ming Dynasty's own culture was very strong, not inferior to any other civilization, but the Western Regions was the intersection of several major civilizations in the world.
Although the Chinese civilization is powerful, it is also a latecomer. This place has been ruled and occupied by the original civilization. If you want to occupy this place for a long time, the easiest way is to clean the house.
It is easy to draw on white paper. This principle is a very simple one.
"Firmly grasp military power~"
"De-Turkization and Sudanization."
"Changing demographics."
Emperor Hongzhi pondered, thought carefully, and nodded solemnly for a long time.
The Han and Tang Dynasties also ruled the Western Regions for a period of time, but soon lost their control over this land. One of the important reasons is because of the third point, the number of Han people in the Western Regions was too small.
When you are strong, the tribes here will surrender to you, but once you are weak, because you have few people here, they will quickly drive you out completely, and the Central Plains Dynasty will once again lose control of this place.
rule.
After all, the most lacking thing in the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty in the Western Regions since ancient times is the management of the population structure. There are too few Han people, which leads to unstable governance and frequent losses.
Whether it was the Han Dynasty or the Tang Dynasty, the Western Regions were far away from the Central Plains, and the Han people were unwilling to move there. Naturally, they had to rely on local tribes for governance.
When they were strong, they surrendered to you, gained benefits from the Central Plains Dynasty, and rapidly grew themselves. However, once the Central Plains Dynasty weakened, such things happened again and again in history, countless times.
Essentially, we cannot say who is right or wrong.
These tribes are also for the benefit of their own tribes, and the Central Plains Dynasty also has its own helplessness. In the final analysis, it is still the saying of later generations that interests are the basis for determining everything.
There are no eternal friends, only eternal interests.
"What's the situation here in Uzang?"
Emperor Hongzhi silently remembered Liu Jin's words and then looked at the Uzang area.
Uzang is the Tibet of later generations, the huge plateau area of Qinghai.
"Your Majesty, Uzang is much simpler than the Western Regions."
Liu Jin thought for a while and said: "The Us Tibetan area is vast and sparsely populated. In the entire vast area, the population is very sparse. The people here mainly make a living by planting highland barley and grazing cattle and sheep."
"The agriculture here is extremely backward. The tools they produce so far are often wooden hoes or tools made of stone."
"In the cultivation of highland barley, we often work hard for a year, and the yield is very low. It is only five or six times that of planting. The yield is very low."
"Isn't this too low?"
Emperor Hongzhi said in disbelief when he heard this.
"It is indeed very low. The altitude here in Uzang is very high, the air is thin, and there is very little heat, so it is extremely difficult to grow crops and the yield is very low."
"Compared to our land in the Central Plains, everything here is very backward."
"Because of the special geographical environment and climatic conditions here, the system implemented in Uzang is a serf system. In Uzang, local landlords, nobles and temples occupy and own all the land, and everything owned by others is
Attached to these lands.”
"In addition, in Uzang, Buddhism has a very high status, and everything is decided by the monks in the temple."
"So for Uzang, if our Ming Dynasty wants to truly rule this vast land, two things must be changed."
"One is their backward serfdom system. To abolish this serfdom system, if the serfdom system is not abolished, even if our army can make the nobles, monks and landlords of Uzang surrender, they will still have the final say when they get down there.
.”
"As time goes by, they still have the final say over Uzang."
"The second is to change the status of Buddhism in Uszang. The inheritance of Uszang living Buddhas must be canonized and selected by our Ming court."
Liu Jin introduced the situation in Uzang in detail.
"It turned out to be such a situation."
Emperor Hongzhi frowned slightly, the information he learned from Liu Jin was completely different from what he knew before.
In the view of Emperor Hongzhi, this Uzang was actually quite acceptable to the Ming Dynasty, and would come to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty every ten years or so.
In the eighth year of Hongzhi's reign, Wangge Limaba began to send people to pay tribute.
Moreover, people in the Ming Dynasty had always believed that Uzang was a group of monks who had nothing to do with the world and devoted themselves to studying Buddhism.
This gives people a very good feeling, but what I learned from Liu Jin is completely different. These monks in Uzang are definitely not the monks who are unconcerned with the world and only focus on studying Buddhism.
.
Behind them were countless bloody serfs. It was these poor serfs who supported everything here in Uzang.
"Your Majesty, all religions are essentially the same. They are all tools of domination, tools that use thoughts to control people. These monks are not engaged in production. What they eat and drink are not all from the following.
Provided by believers?”
Liu Jin thought for a while and said, don't be deceived by the monk's appearance. Since ancient times, few monks are actually good people. They are all typical representatives of being lazy and lazy. The key is that they can also be deceived.
